Modern Franchise League with a Twist (1965 -2010)

           I’ve put together this league based on Summerfield’s 85 mil franchise league along with some concepts from a league I tried to start over a year ago.  The basic premise is to create a realistic franchise league with 4 and 5 man rotations with real benches, platoons, trades, player movement, managerial, and GM decisions.   I want to blend this central concept with keeping a traditionalist’s desire to have “most” of their franchise favorites in their team’s uniforms… (i.e. Jim Thome will always be an Indian in my heart) along with a few twists to make it interesting.

          This league will allow you to form teams based on your chosen combination of franchise favorites and players that slipped through your selected franchise's grasp. In this league, you'll build an 85 mil team of players from 1965 - 2010 that actually played for your franchise or could have played for your franchise based your franchise’s history.  Your team will be comprised of 20 “Franchise Favorites” and 5 “Steals”.  You’ll also get 6/4 Below Average AAA players and extra 5 mil to upgrade your team through the waiver wire and trades.

         Franchise Favorites are those players who have the most WIS eligible listed seasons with your team. Seasons prior to 1965 also count toward the WIS season requirement. For example, Omar Vizquel has 11 WIS seasons with Cleveland and would be considered a Cleveland “Franchise Favorite". As a Cleveland owner, you would be able select any Cleveland Vizquel season or any season after he left Cleveland.   Franchise favorites are exclusive to that franchise only, unless they are stolen as described in the next paragraph.  Partial seasons also count toward the requirement, but a partial and full for the same year only count as one.  Players with an equal number of WIS seasons with multiple franchises will be exclusive to the team he first played for.

           The 5 “Steals” are defined as any player who was with your franchise before his first WIS season or was later acquired by your team via trade or free agency.  Amateur draftees, signees, and players in your franchise's minor league system before his first WIS season  qualify as a  "Steal".  As examples,  Jeff Bagwell may be stolen by the Red Sox and John Smoltz by the Tigers.  Amateur draftees that did not sign with your team are also eligible… For example, the Cleveland Indians selected Doug Drabek in the 4th round of the 1980 June amateur draft, but he did not sign. The Cleveland franchise can select any Drabek player season if he is selected as a “Steal”.   Any player season from 1965-2010 may be used as long as the player was associated with your franchise before his first WIS season.

           "Steals" can also be used on  players acquired by your franchise via trade/free agency.  In this case, only seasons after he became associated with your franchise are eligible.  For example, Reggie Jackson can be selected by the Baltimore franchise from 1976 to the end of his career. Another example would be Randy Johnson with the Houston franchise ( 1998- 2009).

     Steals will be done on a “first come, first served basis”.  When you sign-up for a team, you post your five player “Steals”.  From that point on, those players are exclusively with your franchise.  Once a franchise has had five players stolen, no more players can be stolen from that franchise.   I’ll track this in the Steals forum below.  Make sure you review the list of players stolen from your franchise before designing your team.

 Please review the next post for specific league details.  Note player salary requirements and waiver wire rules.

League details:

Years: 1965 - 2009

WW:  Yes.  Only players that are not currently in the league.   You may not claim any player you previously had whatsoever.  Example, I can not submit a team with a 1993 Manny Ramirez, cut him and pick-up a 2000 Manny Ramirez off the WW.

AAA: 6/4 below average.  Fictitious names.

Salary Cap:  85 mil.  Bumped up to 90 mil after season starts.

Player Salary Requirements.  Only three players on your roster may be under $ 1.5 mil.  Only 2 of those 3 players may be less than $ 1mil and only one can be less than $ 500K.  The cheapest you can go for your final three players is $ 1mil,  $ 500 K, and $ 200 K.   

Live Requirement : 50.  Playoffs Live unless OKed by both owners

Home Park: Any used by your franchise from 1965 -2009.

Trades: Yes, in-league only.

Alignment: Close to current MLB format as possible.

Franchises: Max 1

DH: No 

Injuries: No

League Sign-ups

1. frozen_rope - TBD
2. dlrawson - TBD
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League-Sign-ups:

Steals

List of franchise's stolen players.  No more than five players may be stolen from a franchise.

1. Arizona
2. Atlanta
3. Baltimore
4. Boston
5. Chicago - AL
6. Chicago - NL
7. Cincinnati
8. Cleveland
9. Colorado
10. Detroit
11. Florida
12. Houston
13. Kansas City
14. Los Angeles - AL
15. Los Angeles - NL
16. Milwaukee
17. Minnesota
18. New York - AL
19. New York - NL
20. Oakland
21. Philadelphia
22. Pittsburgh
23. San Diego
24. San Francisco
25. Seattle
26. St. Louis
27. Tampa Bay
28. Texas
29. Toronto
30. Washington

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Open for business.  Hope this fills.

Love the concept. I am in and know my team but just need to figure out my steals.

A couple of quick questions.

For the WW, does the player season have to be from 1965-2010?
For the "Player Salary Requirements" you state that 1 player may be under $1mm and 1 under $500k. Does that mean if we have a $400k player than he satisfies both? Or are we allowed to have 1 player between 500k-1mm AND 1 player between 200k-500k?

Posted by frozen_rope on 4/9/2011 1:55:00 PM (view original):
Love the concept. I am in and know my team but just need to figure out my steals.

A couple of quick questions.

For the WW, does the player season have to be from 1965-2010?
For the "Player Salary Requirements" you state that 1 player may be under $1mm and 1 under $500k. Does that mean if we have a $400k player than he satisfies both? Or are we allowed to have 1 player between 500k-1mm AND 1 player between 200k-500k?

Thanks for your enthusiasm again. 

The answers are:

1)  Yes, the WW selection must be a player season from 1965 - 2010.  He also must not be in the league when you pick him up off the WW.  You are permitted to claim a player that gets cut by another team, but you can not reclaim one of your original 25.

2)  I cleaned up the description for player salary  requirements.  Your may only have 3 players on your roster that make less than $ 1.5 mil.  Only 2 of those can be less than $ 1 mil and only one of those less than $ 500K.  The cheapest you can go is to have to have one $ 1mil player, 1 $ 500K player, and 1 $ 200 K player.  The 23 other players must all be above $ 1.5 mil.

 

Shutting this one down.  I can see there's no interest in  this from the LIVE community.

There's not going to be any interest in this anywhere.  It favors the early signups way too heavily.  I love the general idea, but I think this format will inevitably lead to a bunch of non-competitive teams.